Vintage Legal implements a Double-Blind Peer Review Procedure to ensure impartiality, fairness, and confidentiality in the assessment of all submitted manuscripts, articles, book chapters, or research content. Under this procedure, the identity of authors remains anonymous to reviewers, and reviewers remain anonymous to authors throughout the review process.

It is the responsibility of authors to anonymize their manuscripts and any associated materials before submission. Specifically:

• Author names, institutional affiliations, and any other identifying information must be removed from the manuscript text, figures, tables, and supplementary materials.

• A separate Title Page must be submitted, containing the manuscript title, author names, affiliations, corresponding author contact information, acknowledgements, disclosures, and funding details.

• Authors should avoid citing their own work in a manner that could reveal their identity or provide clues to their identity.

• Authors must ensure that their manuscript meets Vintage Legal’s standards for originality, academic integrity, and adherence to applicable referencing guidelines (such as the latest Bluebook method for website citations or ILI referencing for book chapters).

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Responsibilities of Peer Reviewers

All peer reviewers at Vintage Legal are expected to follow the principles outlined in COPE’s Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers, which include:

• Maintaining strict confidentiality regarding the manuscript, data, figures, and any supplementary materials.

• Evaluating submissions objectively, based solely on intellectual content, originality, significance, methodology, and clarity.

• Declaring any conflicts of interest that may compromise impartiality and recusing themselves if such conflicts exist.

• Providing detailed, constructive, unbiased, and professional feedback to support author development, improve manuscript quality, and maintain publication standards.

• Refraining from using any information from the manuscript for personal, professional, or commercial gain prior to publication.

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Editorial Oversight and Quality Assurance

Vintage Legal employs a multi-tier editorial review system to ensure rigor and ethical compliance:

• Trainee Editors conduct initial screening for manuscript completeness, adherence to submission guidelines, plagiarism checks, and anonymization compliance.

• Senior Editors review content for methodological soundness, academic integrity, proper referencing, and suitability for peer review.

• Editor-in-Chief oversees the overall review process, ensures compliance with ethical and legal standards, resolves conflicts, and makes final publication decisions.

Peer reviewers are assigned based on expertise relevant to the manuscript topic and must complete their evaluations within specified timelines. Editors monitor reviewer adherence to ethical standards and provide guidance or intervention if necessary.

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Ethical Considerations

Vintage Legal upholds the highest standards of scholarly ethics throughout the peer review process, including:

• Promoting unbiased, fair, and confidential evaluation of all submissions.

• Preventing conflicts of interest, plagiarism, and unethical research practices.

• Ensuring transparency, accountability, and traceability of reviewer and editorial decisions.

• Maintaining the integrity of published content by taking corrective actions, such as revisions, corrections, or retractions, when necessary.

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Commitment to Continuous Improvement

Vintage Legal regularly reviews and updates its peer review policies to align with evolving academic, professional, and legal standards. All authors, reviewers, and editors engaging with Vintage Legal are expected to comply with these procedures, ensuring that scholarly and professional integrity is upheld across all publications.